Nature: As the threat of wildfire rises....

Agreed that wildfires are characteristic of mature chaparrals...its natural phenomenon and should not be intervened....
Dried swathes of mustards like these are perfect fuel for fire....

But, human factor combined with erratic rain-driven drought conditions is raising the risk and rate of this catastrophes... 

Myriad factors can start a spark that can lead to massive fires....

Last summer, a hawk carrying a snake and attempting to devour it while perched on a electric wire went wrong....a spark was generated, the eloctrocuted bird fell on the tinder-dry wild oat field, which started a fire....

The dispersed houses in the chaparrals are aggravating things...

Like this lavish mansion........it might be engulfed by the blaze one day..

If a fire initiates, it spreads quickly, engulfing everything in its path....As firefighters say, more and more furnished items in households are resistant towards the extinguishing techniques...

In desperate attempts to quarantine their houses, people are resorting to various strategies...like this prickly pear barricade around the  house, which is known to be fire-resistant.....

The smoke arising from the burnt household stuffs like rubber, plastic, wool,  acrylonitrile, polyurethane, polyamide have dangerous chemicals in them......like cyanide...lungful inhalation can affect people..